PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 223, 8 June 1918, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

At. time of writing no marked change is disclosed in any part of the battle area in France. .The general effcct of available news is Mat the French, notably assisted at some points by the Americans, have everywhere maintained their positions, and in some places have improved their line. .Speculation now turns mainly upon the probable direction of the enemy's next blow, but, on the whole, evidence points to the likelihood of the battle being resuined in full vigour on the front against which the enemy has been concentrating his efforts since he readied the Marne.-

[ The transter of U-boats to American coastal waters, whore, they will bo less, effectively employed'than in waters nearer home, is a remarkably poor reply to.the;tide of American reinforcements in.France which is now, though as yet gradually, beginning to tell. Thcv'battlo at the Chateau Thierry bridge, of which an excellent -account is trans-mitted-to-day., is only one of a series of engagements in. which American units brigaded with other Allied troops have played a gallant part. Another striking indication ul the progress of American organisation was given last week in the brilliantly successful attack on the little town of Gantigiiy—an affair in which the United States troops acted independently. Though the engagement was on a comparatively small scale, it was rightly hailed as a significant event in the world war. It is an earnest of a tremendous, accession of strength to the Allies in the not distant future. That the Americans would prove. themselves good and brave soldiers was, of course, taken for granted. The only question ever raised in regard to their co-operation -was"whether' it could bo rendered in time to be of decisive value. This question is already to a great extent answered. The part the Americans have already taken in the battle suggests that they will be available in considerable numbers to assist in' repelling the enemy offensive in its next stage, and to the material value of the co-operation of the American advance guard there is to be added the. revivifying upon the Allied armies, and not least upon, the French Army, of its ap-' pearance on the battlefront. An idea of what American aid means from this poiut of view is given by Mn. George Perms when he observes, in writing of the struggle at the Chateau Thierry bridge, that veteran French troops praise the vigilance, energy, and' snni/Jroid of their American comrades, who indicted heavy losses on the Germans, sustaining _ less casualties themselves. It would be difficult to exaggerate the sustaining.effect upon, a veteran, but heavily tried, army of the knowledge that it is assured of an reinforcement of troops like the Americans.

Precise in formation as : to tlic number (\f United States troops thus far transported to Franco is withheld, but some interesting facts bearing upon . the organisation of the American Army were presented by M. Andre Tardieu, French High Commissioner in the United States, in the course of a speech delivered at the end of April, in which he declared that "in every field a complete, thorough, and decisive American help is to be found." "The instruction of the. American Army," he stated, "has been organised, in France as vrell as in Amer-. ica, on the basis of gaining a maximum of results within the shortest possible time. The Secretary .of War, in full accord with me, is taking now the last measure which will speed up tliis instruction. The first twenty American divisions landing in France will find there, ready for them, all the, artillery of various calibres which' tliev want. The following divisions will carry over guns and ammunition manufactured in this country (America). This manufacturing, already started, will grow effective in due time. At this very moment the -last tests of the Liberty motor will soon be over. The Liberty motor ranks among the five best motors in existence for bombarding or exploration airplanes. Before the autumn thousands and thousands of motors of the type will be used in Europe, and the. delivery of Uhasc motors will begin. At present, following Generai, Pershing's generous offer, your soldiers are in line in several sectors of our front, and arrangements made allow of the immediate, use of all units as soun as arrived."

Tin-; news transmitted yesterday Ihiit l!ussian forces recently defeatcd Hie Turco-Gernians m big battle I'onr Kars. i;'; Tr;inscnnc;isi;i, is highly import ant if it is true, "is'iirs," according to. a. recent English writer, "is tho key to the entire Transcaueasus, dominating as it does the'highway from Erarum, tlio :rate of tho Armenian plateau, to tlio heart of tlio country. It was from Kfir.<; that in the present war the Russians, with comparatively small forces, were able not only lo beat hack the Turkish invaders (the numermis and bloody battles at Sary Kaiiiysh will 'still be rcmcmbered)i biit in their turn to invade

and finally to occupy Turkish Armenia. Kars lies in the centrc of the high and exceedingly fertile Shingh Plateau, to which there is only access from the south-oast, all the other sides being fortified by Nature' in an almost impregnable manner.. .For that reason Kars, from time .immemorial, had been an apple of discord among the warring local and invading tribe's. It was at one time the capital of an Armenian kingdom, but fell in the eleventh century into the hands of the: Scldjuks, subsequently of the Mongpls"(u'nder Tniuf. and others), then of the Persians, and lastly of. the Turks. In IS2S it was stormed by the Russian General Paskevjtch, but had to be restored .to Turkey by the Treaty of Adrianople. In the Crimean. War -it was valiantly defended by Genehai, Femvick Wii,mams with .15,000 men against Muhavikfk, wlui had under him 70,000 men, and it was compelled t;i surrender after a long siege through sheer famine, elf was, however, once mure restored, to Turkey in 185 li, and only surrendered finally of Berlin., In spite of this Kars continued to be'a centre of piljiriiiKia-e for Moslems as a' Sacred City with holy tombs and mosques."